Her son Chris Malyschko was convicted of his murder, Chris’ pal Darren Halfpenny admitted his role and was a key prosecution witness, and Bronwyn served time for manslaughter for paying for the killing in response to Niceforo’s own violence.

It was undoubtedly a brutal crime, dubbed the Territory’s first contract killing.

But the 2011 Katherine murder would continue to make headlines over the years for another reason, the jailing of Chris’s co-accused, another mate, Zak Grieve.

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Grieve was found guilty of the murder, and initially sentenced to a minimum 20 years under the NT’s mandatory sentencing laws — even though the judge found he was not present when Niceforo was attacked.

In this edited extract from Mandatory Murder by Steven Schubert, examining the case and the fight for justice for Grieve, we learn how the three friends plotted the crime and Grieve’s belated realisation the plan was actually to kill somebody.

Chris’s plan to murder Ray Niceforo seemed simple. Ray lived in a row of units a few doors down from him and (his flatmate). The trio would wait for Ray to get home and then proceed with the job. They’d knock him unconscious, take him out bush, kill him and dispose of the body in a sinkhole Chris knew about on Florina Road, a quiet backroad out of town.

No blood, no fuss and no evidence.

Chris would first cut the power to Ray’s flat at the fuse box, and they’d see if Ray came out to have a look at why he didn’t have electricity. Chris wanted to catch him while he was asleep — he really didn’t want Ray to be able to grab anything he could use as a weapon.

At the local Woolies, Chris bought some rubber gloves and shower caps to minimise any forensic evidence. As well as wearing the caps on their heads, the trio would put them over their shoes. He also bought gaffer tape, some elastic stripping and a disposable clothesline, basically just a bit of rope. And a three-pack of Ferrero Rochers for a treat.

While Chris was working out his plan, Darren was procuring weapons; he stole a baseball bat and a big shifting spanner from his housemate. Somewhere along the way it was decided that he’d be responsible for burning the gloves, shower caps and clothes, perhaps because he had a backyard fire pit that would do the job.

Zak was also doing some planning and taking some precautions. He reached out to a friend to line up an alibi for the trio.

***

Supplies had been bought, an alibi secured, and half the money paid. The plan was in place. Now it was time to execute it.

It was 18 October 2011, almost a month after Ray had stormed into the laundromat and Bronwyn commissioned the murder.

Zak texted Darren. ‘Hay bro whats doing has chris got onto you? About tonight?’

Darren didn’t text back, but wrote to Chris instead.

Halfpenny: Hey zak just told me you wont to do it to night cool.

Malyschko: Hey man, yeh I thoughi siad tonite … im guessing I was wrong … I want us to catch up at about 9 … is that cool???

Halfpenny: That’s cool were at?

Malyschko: I can pick u guys up from somewhere

Halfpenny: ill ask zak

Malyschko: Cool hey while ur asking him that can u plz ask him wat time eagle boys open??

While moving to implement his murder plan, Chris was keen to make sure he’d still be able to grab a pizza.

That night, Darren and Zak went around to (a friend’s), where they played video games and smoked weed. Around 9pm, Chris picked up Darren and Zak in the white van he used for laundry deliveries. They went back to his flat, watched movies and smoked more weed. Every now and then Chris would duck out to see if Ray was home; he kept coming back inside and saying Ray wasn’t there. They waited until 4am for Ray to come home, then gave up. The murder would have to wait.

The next day Chris texted Darren: ‘Hey man same time same place???’

For the second night in a row, Ray didn’t come home. The police asked Darren what would have happened if Ray had come home that night. ‘We would have got ready to kill him,’ he replied.

But according to Darren, the plan wasn’t quite in place at that point. He didn’t have the baseball bat with him, he said, nor the gloves and shower caps. When the police asked him how the trio would have killed Ray that night, he responded, ‘I’m not sure.’

Unknown to the three stoners, Ray was in Darwin: he’d driven up to try to get a $15,000 cheque from his brother to start a roadside grass-slashing business with (his friend) Brenda Heal. His trip had inadvertently extended his life for a few days.

After the two failed attempts, Darren texted Chris at 6.22pm on 21 October.

Halfpenny: Hay are we going to try agen tonight?

Malyschko: Hey man. Have you talked to Zak today???

Halfpenny: I sed hello that’s it

The text message threads are incomplete because some of them were deleted — why only some and not all is unclear. But Zak communicated at some point with Chris, saying he wanted to wait for a few nights.

A few hours later, Chris and Darren had another text exchange.

Halfpenny: Hey mann it that man at home if h is do you wont to do it tonight

Malyschko: I thought zak was gonna msg u, he isn’t home atm but zak wants to w8 a few nights

Halfpenny: Hmmm I was hoping to do it to night as I need the dollars

Zak suddenly stopped replying to texts and made himself hard to reach. After a few days, his radio silence was pissing off Chris and Darren. On 23 October, Darren texted Zak in the afternoon, asking him if he’d spoken to Chris about ‘the job’. No reply. Chris texted Darren.

Malyschko: Has zak called u bak yet??? I havent been able to get him either.

Halfpenny: Nop and im getting very pist off that he has not called or txted me bach

Malyschko: Im gonna keep callin him and hope he picks up

While they were texting each other, Zak finally wrote to Darren and said he’d speak to Chris soon. At a quarter to nine Zak got in touch with Darren again, saying he was at (a friend’s) place, and Darren should come around so Chris could pick them both up again.

The plan was back on track.

***

It had dawned on Zak that he wasn’t there just to help beat up Ray. Zak later said that with reflection, the conversations in the laundromat had clearly been about killing Ray, but he hadn’t been sure at the time — there was so much teenage bravado, so much hyped-up masculinity, so much trying to be cool in front of friends, that he hadn’t known what was real and what was a joke. But on the second night the trio spent waiting for Ray to come home, Zak realised exactly what the real plan was.

Zak later contradicted Darren by saying they did have weapons there on those nights when Ray didn’t come home. And they were ready to use them. ‘That’s when it sort of started to get a bit more than what I thought it was,’ he said later. ‘And I’m like alright this isn’t going to beat him to within an inch of his life, he’s going to die. I’ve clicked and everything’s come together and I’ve gone, Oh s---, they’re planning to knock him.’

Zak asked Chris if he was planning a murder. ‘Chris has just gone, “Dude, that’s been my plan all along.” And I’m like, “Oh, oh, okay.”’

According to Zak, that was why he began avoiding his friends after the two failed attempts. ‘I knew I couldn’t go through with it, so I needed time to think to tell my best friend that I could not do it. I didn’t know what to do at the time. I just sort of tried to avoid it. I needed time away from the situation.’

On the Sunday night, 23 October, Zak said he’d ‘chilled out a bit’ and gone around to Chris’s flat, not knowing if the plan was going ahead. ‘I didn’t know how to go and turn to him and tell him, “Look, man, I don’t want to do this, it’s too much for me and this is way too serious. Beating someone up is one thing but actually killing someone, that’s something I’m not prepared for.”’

Despite his reservations, Zak joined his comrades in their routine of playing video games and smoking pot. As on the previous two nights, Chris kept ducking out to conduct reconnaissance and returning disappointed. But this night was different — he came back in and signalled his friends that their target was home.

‘I knew I couldn’t avoid it anymore, and I had to tell Chris I couldn’t do it,’ Zak said.

He’d run out of time: if he was going to get himself out of this, he had to do it now. Chris left the flat to go roll a smoke; Zak followed him. The two friends were standing by the van in the dark night. ‘I said to him, “I can’t go through with this. I cannot help you.” Chris was a little annoyed and he just said, “Come on, man,” and I’ve said something along the lines of “No, I can’t,” and Chris has gone, “I understand. It’s okay.”’

Zak went back inside to tell Darren, who responded simply with, ‘You’re a p----.’ Zak was a wimp because he couldn’t handle taking a human life.

• This is an (edited) extract from Mandatory Murder by Steven Schubert (ABC Books), in stores and online from June 17.